Museum

Crissy August 6th, 2005

(1) Art Gallery

• Involve the art teacher to help enhance the quality of the museum.
• Create an art gallery for the museum by having the students paint a picture and a scene around the dinosaur that they were assigned for the take home projects.

(2) Dinosaur

• If you are brave (or as some called me - insane) build a dinosaur for your class using furring strips of wood and screws (they will hold it together better than nails).
• After building the frame out of the furring strips, crumple papers and tape them around the frame to create the body shape.
• Have students paper mache and paint the dinosaur (it will probably take one day for each activity).
• You could also have the students paper mache and paint a nest (crumpled papers taped down in an oval shape on foam board) and eggs (blown up balloons) for the dinosaur.

(3) Job Training

• Each student will have to fill out a job application that asks for the top three jobs they would like to be employed at the museum and a reason why they should be hired to do them.
• Job opportunities include Name-A-Saurus (help students make a dinosaur name, poem and egg), Shape-O-Saurus (help students create a dinosaur shape and find the value - for older students), USA Fossil Find/Dinosaur Stories (help older students read the chart and locate states on the map, read dinosaur stories to younger students), Filmstrip (host/hostess welcome the classes into the museum and show the film and read the sentences to the audience), Archeological Dig (tell students information about how a paleontologist digs up fossils), and Fossil Making (help students make fossils by explaining the five different types of fossils).
• Students must train for the position they have been assigned, practicing how to explain the directions or read the stories.
• Students should be reminded that they must perform at their jobs with the responsibility and effort as if it were a real job (tell them about the paychecks they will earn at the end - it is usually a good incentive).
• After the closing of the museum, students will receive a paycheck worth whatever the teacher decides (I gave them a free coupon for an ice cream cone at a local ice cream store and dinosaur stickers).

Entry Filed under: Lessons, Dinosaur Activities